Hope club will sign Brentford man permanently in summer – Player has ‘not yet made up his mind’

Dutch side De Graafschap are hoping to sign Brentford forward Joel Valencia on a permanent basis in the summer, when his contract comes to an end.

That’s according to Regio 8, who say the 28-year-old is yet to decide what he will do when he becomes a free agent in the summer transfer window.

They explain that technical manager Peter Bijvelds is currently working hard on their plans for the future, having recently admitted this month and next are the ones in which the big decisions will be made.

Part of that will be deciding on players who are currently on loan at the club, which includes Brentford forward Valencia.

He’s been on loan from the Bees since August but has only featured in 34% of the available minutes in the league so far, with a knee injury set to side-line him until the end of the season.

The Ecuadorian is set to spend two weeks in Spain for rehabilitation on that injury soon and after that, at the end of the season, he will ‘walk out’ of his ‘well-paid’ contract with Brentford.

And De Graafschap are looking to take advantage of that, with Bijvelds admitting they are in contact about a permanent switch.

“He experiences the club and living environment as very warm,” he said.

“At the time of the injury, he had not yet made a decision. Now he has to rehabilitate, and I remain in talks about a longer stay.”